Trading off # of candles

[ScottieDog]

How would I go about coding a strategy that entered a trade after a certain number of candles in a row.... like shorting after 6 subsequent red candles.

Not sure what I would use from the condition builder to make this happen?

[NinjaTrader_ZacharyG]

Hello ScottieDog,

Thank you for writing in.

If you wish to create a condition that checks for 6 down bars in a row, you can check for the following:
Close[0] < Close[1] // current bar is less than previous
Close[1] < Close[2] // previous bar less than two bars ago
Close[2] < Close[3] // two bars ago less than three bars ago
Close[3] < Close[4] // three bars ago less than four bars ago
Close[4] < Close[5] // four bars ago less than five bars ago
Close[5] < Close[6] // five bars ago less than six bars ago

If all of the above are true, this would denote there were six down bars in a row.

[koganam]

How would I go about coding a strategy that entered a trade after a certain number of candles in a row.... like shorting after 6 subsequent red candles.

Not sure what I would use from the condition builder to make this happen?

You would have to code it from scratch: the Strategy Builder would not be able to handle it.

#Variables

private int counter = 0; //class variable to store count

#OnBarUpdate

counter = (FirstTickOfBar && Close[0] < Open[0]) ? counter++ : 0; //test for red bar and up counter or reset it as necessary
if (counter >= 6) MakeMegaBucks();

That code takes account of the fact that the data is being streamed and not a static space, and so makes efficient use of the data stream. You could always instead ignore the true nature of your data and use an inefficient "for loop" on every bar, which unfortunately is usually the answer that you would be given.

[ScottieDog]

Thanks.

Is there a way of coding this so that I can have a user set preference for number of bars I want to choose? I´ve set a user defined input INT, but how to apply the conditions to it, for # of bars before an entry? Would I set a user variable for each in the condition builder?

Hello ScottieDog,

Thank you for writing in.

If you wish to create a condition that checks for 6 down bars in a row, you can check for the following:
Close[0] < Close[1] // current bar is less than previous
Close[1] < Close[2] // previous bar less than two bars ago
Close[2] < Close[3] // two bars ago less than three bars ago
Close[3] < Close[4] // three bars ago less than four bars ago
Close[4] < Close[5] // four bars ago less than five bars ago
Close[5] < Close[6] // five bars ago less than six bars ago

If all of the above are true, this would denote there were six down bars in a row.

[ScottieDog]

Thanks. Saw your reply after my post #4.

I like the idea of the counter. Thanks. Is there somewhere I can read more about this?

You would have to code it from scratch: the Strategy Builder would not be able to handle it.

#Variables

private int counter = 0; //class variable to store count

#OnBarUpdate

counter = (FirstTickOfBar && Close[0] < Open[0]) ? counter++ : 0; //test for red bar and up counter or reset it as necessary
if (counter >= 6) MakeMegaBucks();

That code takes account of the fact that the data is being streamed and not a static space, and so makes efficient use of the data stream. You could always instead ignore the true nature of your data and use an inefficient "for loop" on every bar, which unfortunately is usually the answer that you would be given.

[koganam]

Thanks. Saw your reply after my post #4.

I like the idea of the counter. Thanks. Is there somewhere I can read more about this?

I am not sure what you asking. How to implement a counter?

Such is a concomitant part of almost all data-driven and event-driven programming, which ultimately is all that NT is. It receives data, which receipt is handled by the arrival of a tick event.

All that I have done here is that instead of receiving/accumulating the data, then iterating backward over it (a "for loop"), I have matched my processing to the data model, and handled the data as it came in. Dynamic data, dynamic processing.

ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data-driven_programming

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event-driven_programming

[Laimis]

You would have to code it from scratch: the Strategy Builder would not be able to handle it.

#Variables

private int counter = 0; //class variable to store count

#OnBarUpdate

counter = (FirstTickOfBar && Close[0] < Open[0]) ? counter++ : 0; //test for red bar and up counter or reset it as necessary
if (counter >= 6) MakeMegaBucks();

That code takes account of the fact that the data is being streamed and not a static space, and so makes efficient use of the data stream. You could always instead ignore the true nature of your data and use an inefficient "for loop" on every bar, which unfortunately is usually the answer that you would be given.

hey, koganam,
why do you use FirstTickOfBar in this part of code?

counter = (FirstTickOfBar && Close[0] < Open[0]) ? counter++ : 0; //test for red bar and up counter or reset it as necessary
if (counter >= 6) MakeMegaBucks();

thanks

[koganam]

hey, koganam,
why do you use FirstTickOfBar in this part of code?

counter = (FirstTickOfBar && Close[0] < Open[0]) ? counter++ : 0; //test for red bar and up counter or reset it as necessary
if (counter >= 6) MakeMegaBucks();

thanks

So that each bar processes the counter once and only once, regardless the setting for CalculateOnBarClose.

[Laimis]

So that each bar processes the counter once and only once, regardless the setting for CalculateOnBarClose.

Thanks, but all I get is zero
in variable:
private int counter = 0;

on bar update

counter = (FirstTickOfBar && Close[0] > SMA(period)[0]) ? counter++ : 0;
Print(counter);

i get zero I really need some advise...
thank you

[NinjaTrader_ZacharyG]

Hello Laimis,

I would suggest taking a look at the documentation for the ? operator: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...v=vs.100).aspx

Take a look at the statement koganam provided:

counter = (FirstTickOfBar && Close[0] > SMA(period)[0]) ? counter++ : 0;

In order for the counter to increment, the condition that is being evaluated must be true. If it is not true, it'll reset the counter variable to 0.

I would suggest placing a print before this statement to check the values of Close[0] and SMA(period)[0].

Example:

if (FirstTickOfBar)
{
     Print("Close[0] " + Close[0]);
     Print("SMA(period[0] " + SMA(period)[0]);
}

counter = (FirstTickOfBar && Close[0] > SMA(period)[0]) ? counter++ : 0;

[Laimis]

thanks. I tested the code again using your advice.
and it seems, some how counter++ doesn't add to counter = 0. then i changed it to counter+1, it works now.
do you have any ideas why is that so? nor urgent, but I'm learning C#, so it helps when I understand it .

thanks again

[NinjaTrader_ZacharyG]

Hello Laimis,

Thank you for your patience.

It looks like using counter++ would, indeed, not return the expected output in this scenario.

What's happening is that the code is evaluating what counter is (0), increments it by 1 (0 -> 1), but then assigns counter back to its original value (0).

You would be able to use counter + 1 (as you have explained) OR you can do ++counter rather than counter++.

[koganam]

Hello Laimis,

Thank you for your patience.

It looks like using counter++ would, indeed, not return the expected output in this scenario.

What's happening is that the code is evaluating what counter is (0), increments it by 1 (0 -> 1), but then assigns counter back to its original value (0).

You would be able to use counter + 1 (as you have explained) OR you can do ++counter rather than counter++.

Yes, of course. Unary incrementer. Must increment before assignation.